Kayla hit a new personal best of 17′ 5 3/4″ in the long jump for 7th place at the prestigious Mass State Track Coaches Association Invitation in Somerville on Saturday (results, milesplit coverage, photos). This marked the 3rd meet that Kayla has broken the 17′ barrier. After a weekend of high level track competition, the result put her at 10th in the state wide rankings, with only two of the top 10 jumps of the year not coming from this competition. Carla Forbes soared to a meet record, personal best, USA#4 20’3″ to win the competition. Kayla also tripled jumped 33′ for 18th and anchored North to a seasons best 50.43 in the 4x100m for 4th behind top ranked Brockton, Somerville, and North Attleboro.
Kayla concluded her high school dual meet career on the Newton North track with a personal best 17’4″ long jump to place 2nd behind Carla in a loaded competition against league rival Weymouth (results, photos, milesplit article) She defeated Weymouth’s Melissa Darling for the 2nd time this outdoor season and retained her #2 ranking in the Bay State league and a top 10 ranking in the state.
The meet was covered live by Fox 25 as it involved 4 undefeated teams facing off.
The girls won by usual landslide but boys meet came down to 4×4 with Weymouth diving for the relay win and meet tie. I left my camera in bag for most of meet but happened to take it out to get this shot:
The seniors conclude their Newton career with a victory lap around the track.
Kayla competed under the lights at the Weston Twilight Invitational, placing 6th in the long jump with a 16’6″ coming off an injury layoff (photos, results, milesplit coverage) . She also anchored the 4x100m relay to a season’s best 50.76 win over MA#2 Somerville. Kayla anchored and held off a charge (photo sequence) by meet MVP and milesplit athlete of the week Nicole Genard, the 2nd fastest indoor hurdler in New England.
As an added bonus, Justin had the announcer ask her to prom over the PA system (she said yes).
Meet Highlight video (long jumps at 0:41 and 4x100m at 3:11 — don’t miss it):
Kayla joined up with National Champion Carla Forbes and Ali Hurwitz to break the MSTCA Division 1 State Relays Triple Jump relay record (set by North in 2010) by almost 2 feet (photos, PA Announcement of Record). With temperatures in the low 40’s and swirling winds, Kayla cranked out a near PR 33’5.5″ triple jump to break her 4th state relay meet record and 5th school relay record of the season. While it helps to have the National champion on your relay for record breaking, 3x Kayla’s mark would have been good enough to win the competition alone.
The Newton North girls captured their third consecutive team title and established the lone meet record of the day. The Tigers’ triple jump squad of indoor national champion Carla Forbes, Allison Hurwitz and Kayla Prior combined for a 32.98-meter victory, bettering North’s record of 32.47 in 2010. Forbes had the longest jump of the day at 39-9 and Hurwitz broke her personal best with a 35-5.
Forbes anchored Newton North’s 4:06.26 win in the 4 x 400 with a 60.0 split. The Tigers finished with 57 points to defeat runner-up Andover (50 points) and third place Brockton (41.5).
“In the triple, the wind was sort of swirling,†said Newton North coach Joe Tranchita. “It was tough to get a good read on it. You’re not sure if you should make adjustments to your approach or not.
“All things considered, they did a really nice job. We got to the last round we were trying to stretch it to get the state record, but with the wind it was just asking a lot.
Girls Triple Jump
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All-Class: # 33.60m 2004 Hopkinton HS, (110′ 3″)
Div. I: * 32.47m 5/15/2010 Newton North HS, (106′ 2.25″)
Name Year School Finals Points
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1 Newton North, Girls Newton No. 32.98m* 108-02.50 10
2 Brockton, Girls Brockton 30.57m 100-03.50 8
3 Weymouth, Girls Weymouth 30.29m 99-04.50 6
4 Chelmsford, Girls Chelmsford 29.99m 98-04.75 4
5 New Bedford, Girls New Bedford 29.02m 95-02.50 2
6 Andover, Girls Andover HS 28.84m 94-07.50 1
No other North athlete (or Massachusetts athlete) has broken so many state relay meet records this season. Its not easy to research without names for each team, but its likely that she and Carla share the lead for most records held (Kayla 4x50m, 4x50m hurdles, 3xLJ, 3xTJ, Carla 4x50m, 3xLJ, 3xTJ, 4x400m from 2011).
Due to a slight muscle strain behind her knee and some trouble with steps last week, her coach opted to put her in the “B” long jump relay. She led the “B” team with 16’1″ jump for a total of 46’2″ which would up being good enough for 3rd and 6 points toward the team title (jump photos). The “A” team had a foul in a later flight so her effort was clutch to keeping North in the hunt. She likely placed 3rd or 4th individually (no results posted). 3x her jump would have come up just 4″ short of the winning total.
Girls Long Jump
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All-Class: # 16.43m 5/15/2010 Pembroke HS, (53′ 11″)
Div. I: * 16.11m 5/17/2008 Newton North HS, (52′ 1.25″)
Name Year School Finals Points
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1 New Bedford, Girls New Bedford 14.83m 48-08.00 10
2 Attleboro, Girls Attleboro 14.11m 46-03.50 8
3 Newton North, Girls B Newton No. 14.07m 46-02.00 6
4 Acton-Boxboro, Girls Acton-Boxboro 14.04m 46-00.75 4
5 Weymouth, Girls Weymouth 13.81m 45-03.75 1.50
5 Brockton, Girls Brockton 13.81m 45-03.75 1.50
Over the course of her 4 year career, Kayla contributed to 103 points at her eight state relay meets and accumulated nine gold medals along with 2 thirds and a sixth.
The North girls continued to establish themselves as leaders in the sprint relays with a season best 50.7 in the 4x100m against Framingham today. The time currently leads the state rankings (athletic.net, ma.milesplit.com). Running into a head wind, Kayla split a 12.47 (equivalent to 13.17 flat start) to bring the team home. The first three legs split 13.50 (Wong), 12.63 (Larkin), and 12.15 (Forbes).
Kayla ran a 17.0 personal best and state qualifier in the 100m hurdles for 3rd place in Newton win over Needham (photos). She also anchored the 4x100m relay to a season best 51.8 win and took 2nd in the triple jump. She is now state-qualified in 4 events (LJ, TJ, 100m hurdles, and 4x100m relay). Her 17’1.5″ long jump PR continues to rank 3rd in state of the 272 reported performances.
Photos from Easter 2012 in Woodbury are posted. Great fun and a surprise near quorum (click here for photo)! I only got 54 keepers even though Ava points out “Uncle Jack, why do you always have a camera?”. They came out pretty good — below are just some highlights.
Kayla had a great meet Wednesday at the Newton North home opener win over Braintree 97-38 (photos). She leaped a personal best and state qualifying 17′ 1.5″ for 2nd in the long jump and had a 16’10” to back it up. That’s a 1/2 foot improvement over her previous outdoor PR of 16’7″. For 10-15 minutes she was the North’s #1 jumper for the season as she had out-distanced 2-time national champion Carla Forbes’ 16’9″ from last week until Carla jumped 19’3″ in 2nd flight. Kayla now ranks 3rd in league. Her mark, which translates to metric 5.22 meters, would have won the Ithaca Invitational last weekend which featured Ithaca, Cornell, Cortland State, and Herkimer College (results) so she should fit in OK next year. State rankings are unclear due to spotty data entry, but her jump would have ranked 19th state-wide at the END of the 2011 season. Dad was shooting high jump on other end of field so no photos of that event!
In the triple jump she also PR-ed with a state-qualifing 33’5.25″ jump for 3rd (10.19meters), improving on the 33’3.25″ PR she set last week against Natick and ranking her 7th in league (jump sequence photos #1, #2, #3)
She also anchored the 4x100m relay to a state qualifying and league-leading 51.9 win (video).
In 100m hurdles, Braintree’s lead hurdler took a header into Kayla’s lane and knocked her off stride, but she still managed an 18.0 for 3rd place and a total of 10 of North’s 93 points.
Last week in a near freezing meet against Natick with her personal photographer off in San Diego, Kayla took 2nd in triple jump with a state-qualifing PR 33’3.25″ and took 3rd in the 100m in 13.9 and anchored the 4x100m relay to a state-qualifying league-leading 52.2 win (newton tab article).
Thur – March 29 at Natick at 3:45
Wed – April 4 home vs Braintree at 3:45
Tues – April 10 at Needham at (DeFazio Field, rte 135) at 3:45
Wed – April 18 home vs Walpole at 10:00
Tues – April 24 at Framingham (Bowditch Field) at 3:45
Sat – April 28 – Dvi 1 State Relays at Franklin HS at 9:30
Tues – May 1 at Brookline (Krafts Downes Field) at 3:45
Sat – May 5 – Weston Invitational at Weston HS at 4:30
Tues – May 8 home vs Weymouth at 3:45
Sat – May 12 – State Coaches Invit at Somerville (Dilboy Stadium) at 9:30
Wed – May 16 – Conference Meet at Weymouth at 4:00
Saturday – May 19 – So Shore Meet at Norwell HS at 9:30
Sunday – May 27 – Div 1 State Meet at Durfee at 1:00/1:30/2:00
Saturday – June 2 – State Finals at Fitchburg State College at 1:30/3:00/3:30
